Alastair Howcroft

I’m currently a PhD student exploring whether artificially intelligent (AI) care- and chat-bots can be as empathic as human practitioners and if they can provide the same benefits of empathic care that patients receive from humans. As AI technologies are increasingly used in healthcare, even sometimes replacing human interaction, it’s important to understand the extent to which they can show empathy and thus improve patient outcomes. My PhD research looks at how AI interacts with patients and whether it can deliver the same level of empathic care that’s been shown to improve things like patient satisfaction and quality of life. Before starting this research, I completed a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham.

My ORCID is 0009-0000-8445-3880: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8445-3880

Howcroft, A. and Hopkins, G. (2024) ‘Exploring Mars: An Immersive Survival Game for Planetary Education’, Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Games Based Learning. Aarhus University, 2 – 4 October. Aarhus: Academic Conferences International Limited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.18.1.3104